Leaving the Tetons on Sunday, July 20 (Day 11), we made our way south through Jackson and into Utah. We stayed at Provo Sunday night. The trip was largely uneventful save for a big thunderstorm driving through Utah.
Trying to find an open restaurant Sunday night in Provo proved challenging. We ended up with burgers at a Sonic. Provo as a whole was uninspiring, especially for a college town. We filled up with gas on Monday morning and were off to Moab...
The drive from Provo to Moab was spectacular. The landscape through Utah is a beautiful mix of colors and crazy rock formations. It was like driving through Radiator Springs from the Cars movie. We found our campsite at Dead Horse Point, and then drove into town where we lined up rafting for Wednesday and grabbed dinner at Eddie McStiffs. For the record the best bacon cheeseburger of the trip (Jacob tried them all).
Dead Horse Point State Park
Moab proved the hottest stop on the trip. Although fairly mild for Moab in July, temperatures were about 100 degrees during the day. We beat the heat a bit by staying at Dead Horse Point state Park. It sits on a mesa a couple thousand feet above the valley (6,000 feet), so temperatures were cooler. It also had power so we got to exercise the air conditioner for the first time on the trip (a life saver).
Dead Horse Point is a great park, with beautiful views of Canyonlands and the Colorado River. And it comes with a colorful past. The actual point is a flat mesa with a narrow neck of about 30 feet. Cowboys used to use it as a natural corral - herd the horses on and block the neck with logs. The two thousand foot sheer drop along all the sides served as a the fence. The state has turned it into a great park with some great facilities, although no showers as they truck their water in. One of our favorite campsites of the trip.
Dinner at sunset
Sunrise from the point
A view of the Colorado River and Canyonlands from the point
The shadow in the middle is Dead Horse Point
Enjoying sunset from the point
Sunset through a rain squall
Arches National Park
Arches felt a bit like a giant climbing toy. It was fun to look at the rocks, but the real fun was climbing around and exploring. And it was definitely our hottest day of the trip - no water here for relief!
The scale of Arches is hard to appreciate from a distance - can you see Dori and the kids on the right? (same rock, Balanced Rock, in both pictures)
Climbing Turret Arch
Waving under South Window
Double Arch (one of our favorite spots)
Eating and playing in Double Arch
Delicate Arch
Fin rock formations
After a hot day in Arches we headed to Faux Falls to cool off. Thanks Dudas for the tip!
Rafting the Colorado
After baking in the desert in Arches the day before, everyone looked forward to spending the day on the river. The Colorado was a perfect way to float through the gorgeous scenery. And we had fun with Ryan, who happened to be from Puyallup.
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